With Jordair Jett and Mike McCall Jr. entering their senior season the Saint Louis Billikens could use some additional depth on the perimeter. First head coach Jim Crews and his staff reeled in Memphis native Davell Roby, and on Thursday night it was reported by multiple outlets that Decatur, Ill. native Marcus Bartley has verbally committed to the Atlantic 10 school.

Bartley, who attends MacArthur High School and played for the Peoria Irish this spring/summer, joins Roby and 6-11 center Austin Gillman as players verbally committed to attend Saint Louis.

Bartley’s recruitment gained steam during the summer thanks to his play with the Irish, and program director and head coach Gavin Sullivan stated in a story written by Scott Richey of the Decatur Herald & Review back in July that Bartley’s skill set will change as he gains strength.

“Marcus is going to be one of those players that will change a lot in college when he gets stronger,” said Sullivan.

“You could always see his length and skill set. Being that tall and lanky and being able to handle the ball the way he does, a lot of teams can see him being a (point guard), a combo guard or even play him as a (shooting guard) in their system.”

In addition to Bartley and Roby the Billikens will also have Central Michigan transfer Austin McBroom and Villanova transfer Achraf Yacoubou on the perimeter in 2014. In his lone season at CMU, McBroom averaged 10.9 points and 2.7 assists per game, proving to be one of the best newcomers in the Mid-American Conference. As for Yacoubou, in two seasons at Villanova he averaged 2.6 points and 1.8 rebounds per game but the transfer year and a new system could result in increased productivity.

With Jett and McCall on the way out Saint Louis needed additional depth on the perimeter, and with Bartley’s decision to commit the Billikens have taken care of that need.

Pumped about the Bartley commitment. SLU needed a PG and he seems to be a good one.

The fear with making Jim Crews the head coach after he did such an excellent job as interim coach when Majerus passed was that he wouldn’t be a good recruiter. He is proving everyone wrong so far as he has already inked a lot of talent at SLU (SF Mike Crawford, PF Tanner Lancona, PF Reggie Agbeko, SG Achraf Yacoubou, SG Davell Roby, C Ausitn Gillmann, and now PG Marcus Bartley).